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From October 2016 to March 2017 the team is joined by Guest Kats Rosie Burbidge and Eibhlin Vardy, and by InternKats Verónica Rodríguez Arguijo, Tian Lu and Hayleigh Bosher.

Wednesday, 29 July 2015

Yesterday morning the IPKat posted this item on a procedural issue relating to amendment of pleadings in a passing-off action, Gama Healthcare Ltd v Pal International Ltd. The blogpost featured a couple of illustrations that were not featured in the Lawtel note from which this Kat sourced his blogpost. At the bottom of the post, the Kats explained:

The ... the illustrations ... were the closest to similar packaging that this Kat could lay his paws on via a Google Image search. If anyone has more confusingly similar images, do please share them.

The Kats have since received, via an anonymous benefactor, the following illustrations. The one on shown above, right, is the packaging of the claimant, Gama; on the left is the packaging of the defendant Pal. Might you be confused into picking the package on the right, mistaking it for the package on the left if you didn't have them both in front of you? Whether you are a hospital or health authority purchasing officer, a private purchaser or a person being wet-wiped, the Kats are running a sidebar poll which will enable you to answer this question.Caveat: this poll is conducted purely for the amusement of readers of this weblog. It is not mandated by the trial judge or commissioned by either party; it is not based on any methodology and it is not intended to have any evidential value at all.

The fact that someone sues is hardly the point - it is not the average consumer suing. People sue for hopeless cases all the time. However the fact that the Defendants have chosen to adopt packaging plainly highly similar to the Claimant's packaging does seem germane. After all they must know the market, and they have taken the dangerous commercial decision to adopt that packaging. It seems unlikely that they took that decision lightly, and therefore one assumes that they thought the average consumer would be influenced by the packaging, i.e. does care.

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